title: The use of rice seeds to produce human pharmaceuticals for oral therapy.
abstract: Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the major staple food consumed by half of the world's population. Rice seeds have gained recent attention as bioreactors for the production of human pharmaceuticals such as therapeutic proteins or peptides. Rice seed production platforms have many advantages over animal cell or microbe systems in terms of cost-effectiveness, scalability, safety, product stability and productivity. Rice seed-based human pharmaceuticals are expected to become innovative therapies as edible drugs. Therapeutic proteins can be sequestered within natural cellular compartments in rice seeds and protected from harsh gastrointestinal environments. This review presents the state-of-the-art on the construction of gene cassettes for accumulation of pharmaceutical proteins or peptides in rice seeds, the generation of transgenic rice plants, and challenges involved in the use of rice seeds to produce human pharmaceuticals.
authors.affiliation: Functional Transgenic Crops Research Unit, Genetically Modified Organism Research Center, National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuhya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wakasa
authors.forename: Fumio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Takaiwa
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000818:Animals; D052179:Antigens, Plant / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D019149:Bioreactors; D032485:Cryptomeria; D003888:Desensitization, Immunologic; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D012275:Oryza / Q000235:genetics*; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D011058:Pollen; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D012639:Seeds / Q000235:genetics*; D013678:Technology, Pharmaceutical / Q000379:methods*; D014170:Transformation, Genetic
chemical_list: D052179:Antigens, Plant; C065290:Cry j I protein, Cryptomeria japonica; C065291:Cry j II protein, Cryptomeria japonica; D010940:Plant Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins
keywords: Genetically modified crop; Oryza sativa L.; Pharmaceutical protein; Seed storage protein; Transgenic rice